


Obsession

by LZClotho (LZielinsky)



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Awkward Sexual Situations, F/F, First Time, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26339914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LZielinsky/pseuds/LZClotho
Summary: Following the end of "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy", Janeway finds herself constantly coveting one particular component of the Doctor's vivid daydreams... Seven. This episode also acknowledges that Janeway has meddled in the Doctor's programming before in "Latent Image" (season 5)
Relationships: Kathryn Janeway/Seven of Nine
Comments: 4
Kudos: 47





	Obsession

**Author's Note:**

> originally written in 2005

_ Image created by Rebel  _

In the anxious encounter just past, The Doctor's subroutines had been spied upon by a species monitoring Voyager's movement through their space. Having assumed that The Doctor's 'daydreams' were his actual perceptions, the aliens believed him to be the captain of the vessel, a dynamic and military genius. Then there was Seven. 

_ Or rather, The Doctor's replica of Seven. The Voyager Chief Medical Officer had imagined himself a lure to women all over the ship. Herself included. Seven included. Kathryn was appalled.  _

_ Seven of Nine, a former Borg member and now young passenger on her crew, was not demure, yet The Doctor had vested Seven with demure appeal, even heightened sexual allure, and the maturity to use it. Kathryn had encountered this daydream on the holodeck when they recreated The Doctor's thoughts for analysis.  _

_ Summoned by Seven, Kathryn entered the holodeck not knowing what to expect. The Doctor, in Florentine Renaissance painter's garb, purple hat with feather jauntily askance, stood, paintbrush in hand, at an easel.  _

_ His subject: Seven of Nine. Kathryn drew a breath in surprise at the sight of a nude Seven, barely decently draped in a crisp white sheet, leoninely sprawled across the painter's couch. She had nearly stumbled into the real Seven behind her in her surprise.  _

_ The real Seven was unaffected by the sight of herself posed so provocatively. But Kathryn was not so fortunate. Her mouth had gone dry, even as her palms began to sweat. Distressing warmth pooled between her thighs. Then she had met Seven's gaze. She managed a dry commentary only to say something, anything, in the oppressive silence.  _

_ "At least he got the hands right."  _

Kathryn Janeway, captain of the starship Voyager, awakened in her quarters to the echo of her own inner voice, body bathed in sweat, and sheets tangled around her legs.  _ God, how did I even move after seeing that vision? _

In the dark of her quarters alone, Kathryn allowed her other thoughts from that moment to surface for further examination. 

The Doctor's painting had engendered a fuller comparison than just Seven's hands. In fact, his painting became ignored as Kathryn's gaze slid up a lean, long calf and over full hips. She actually remembered feeling disappointment when the shadows of the sheet hid the rest. 

Heat suffused more than Janeway's face. The apex of Seven's womanhood tantalized just at the edge of visibility. Soft, full and firm, Seven's breasts shifted as the image moved. Kathryn's hands flexed. Even the claw-like implant above Seven's left breast seemed more a decorative adornment against alabaster skin than a cruel reminder of the alien technology that still had such a tight hold inside the young woman. Her heart ached and Kathryn could only bow before the acknowledgment of her desires. 

Filled with shame, she shook herself. That had not been Seven. It was too mature, too come hither. A lure to what Seven might become. 

Kathryn did not want to see Seven become a 'gift' to men. She was too headstrong to be cowed; hers was a spirit that Kathryn intended to see grow and flourish. The deepest part of Kathryn, however, still found the image hedonistically pleasant to contemplate.  _ Maybe someday... _ she lamented.

_ What if someday never comes? _ Kathryn's pessimism, the part that also battled her optimism about ever getting Voyager back to the Alpha quadrant, spoke up.  _ You deserve something _ , it prodded. 

_ A picture _ , Kathryn thought. Just capture that moment to have in her darkest nights. She recalled then that she and Seven had helped The Doctor clear much of his daydreams from his programming. It was almost a relief to know she could not have it. 

The next day, as Janeway and Seven rumbled around the holodeck in a vigorous Velocity match, Kathryn lost several points to sudden visions of Seven rising before her in glorious wanton nudity. 

That night her quarters felt emptier, her soul lonelier than ever. She groaned and pulsed and caressed herself to that image in her mind until Seven's name cried from her lips. 

Panting in the dark, she tried to talk to herself rationally. It was completely out of the question to act on her feelings toward the young woman. But night after night it became harder to ignore. _That's it_ , she decided finally, tossing off the covers. _I will just have another look at the picture, recall my discomfort at the untruthful vision, and that will be the end of this_. 

Kathryn Janeway entered sickbay, finding to her great relief that The Doctor was already deactivated. She knew though that he was programmed to materialize as she began combing through his files. With only a brief hesitation she keyed a sequence to temporarily disengage his activation routine. Scrolling through his files, she located her objective. Looking over her shoulder guiltily, she withdrew a palm PADD and copied the file. Quickly reinstating the auto-activation, Janeway hurried from sickbay. 

The PADD taunted her from the table. Arms crossed over her chest, Janeway stared at it, demanding  _ What the hell will you do now? _

Reaching out, she lifted the PADD, staring at the filename. She closed her eyes, the pad of her finger brushing over the open command. There was a faint  _ zzt _ . 

_ Oh God. Just look. Once is all you'll need then delete it! _ Kathryn's eyes opened to see Seven of Nine luxuriantly draped over her couch, right there, in the middle of her living room. 

Nude and smiling so much more than that usually faint curve at her! Kathryn's breath left her so fast she stumbled to her reading chair, grasping the arm, steadying her fall into the cushion. "Seven."  _ Dear God _ , she prayed. She could not breathe. The crystal blue eyes followed her movement, so filled with questions that Kathryn felt her longing well up. 

Tears spilled out, and she cried helplessly, viewing the unattainable through the veil of her tears. The PADD fell from nerveless fingers and the holographic image vanished. Choking back her tears, Kathryn left the control abandoned on the floor escaping to the loneliness of her bed for another night. 

# # #

"Someone has been in my program." The Doctor was indignant. He had summoned Seven when a diagnostic routine had revealed that during the night just past he had been deactivated for a short period. 

"But nothing is missing, or added, to your program," Seven replied after her thorough examination of his files. 

"I have been violated. I demand you determine by whom." 

Seven said nothing, nodding and acceding to his wish. _If nothing had been removed..._ "Perhaps something was copied," she considered aloud. "But to what purpose?" 

"I don't care. They're my files." 

_ Technically _ , Seven thought,  _ these were Voyager's files _ but despite being a hologram, The Doctor displayed a habitual tendency to react as a human would regarding many things. Apparently privacy was one of them.  His files of his experiences constituted a sort of 'personal log', she supposed. So in the end she offered to help him encrypt them. 

"Later," he insisted when she made the suggestion. "Someone is out there right now viewing my private thoughts. I'd like it stopped." 

"Shall I consider it a security breach and make a report to Security?" 

"They won't take this seriously." 

"Lieutenant Commander Tuvok takes everything seriously," Seven responded plainly. 

As a Vulcan, the security chief's own biology and training denied many things were pleasurable or amusing. She could disagree with that, having often experienced pleasure in the presence of the captain, whether they shared a meal, or a Velocity game, or a conversation during the night. But that was neither here nor there. There was, at present, The Doctor's problem. 

The Doctor interrupted her divergent thoughts. "Just stop this Peeping Tom!" he begged. 

_ Interesting choice of descriptions _ , Seven considered. Tom Paris had regular access to The Doctor's console. When she mentioned his name the holographic physician blanched. 

"My thoughts will be all over the ship by lunch!" 

So she left him to begin her investigation. A copied file would be exactly the same size, just duplicated in another portion of the ship's memory core. She ruled out all the general file areas, instinct telling her that a thief would not leave such obvious tracks. 

Seven also left out of her search any portions of the database that required less access than The Doctor's clearance level. That narrowed the directories to those only accessible by senior staff. With no knowledge of exactly what might have been viewed, she could only approach the process as she was doing, with logic. The computer could comb the file structures to bring up a list of duplicates. Data purges were done similarly to save space in the multi-terrabyte system. So she set the search and then entered a regeneration cycle in her alcove to await the results. 

Her mind turned to the next day's planned tasks. To begin the morning she was meeting Captain Janeway on the holodeck for a Velocity match. A vision of the captain, sweat gleaming on her arms as she was victorious yet again - unfathomably, accompanied Seven into unconsciousness. 

In the morning, the computer reported the results. While there was quite a number - people worked jointly on reports all the time - none of them were from among The Doctor's file bank. 

To review later, she copied the findings to her personal PADD - and hit upon a revelation. "Computer, did your search include personal PADDs?" 

_ "Negative. Only actively connected devices sharing the core memory were scanned."  _

"Is there a record, for backup or otherwise, kept of PADD contents?" 

_ "Affirmative."  _

"Was that backup directory scanned in my query?" 

_ "Negative."  _

"Do so," Seven ordered. "Now." 

_"Working,"_ the computer replied. 

"Estimated time to results?" 

_ "Ten hours, three minutes, 22 seconds."  _

"When the search is complete, download the report to my personal PADD." 

_"Understood."_

Seven swiftly left the Cargo Bay. If she moved quickly she would not be late for her Velocity date with Captain Janeway. 

# # #

It did not occur to Seven not to bring up The Doctor's fears, and to ask for the captain's thoughts or even guidance how to prove or disprove his claim and restore his sense of privacy. She was beginning to appreciate the very different way the other woman conducted problem-solving. 

Captain Janeway paused their play and snatched the Velocity disk out of mid-air. "The Doctor thinks someone is reading his personal logs?" 

Seven did not mistake the high color in the captain's face for exertion, but rather assessed that the woman was angry on behalf of her crewmember. "In a manner of speaking. He believes that someone has copied a file, or files, for themselves - or to spread as entertainment." 

"Have you found evidence?" 

"No." 

"Then how does he know?" 

"He 'sensed' it." 

The captain settled to a bench against the side of the holodeck, rubbing her face with a towel. Seven attentively watched and waited for the captain to continue her thoughts. 

Finally the towel was set aside. "If you've checked his board and looked through the files finding no new access dates, then I'd say you've been thorough. His matrix has suffered lapses before."

Seven nodded, but sighed. "He is distraught." 

"As I would be," the captain responded. "If someone read my personal logs." 

"But you do not believe he has anything to worry about?" 

Janeway shook her head. "No one is spreading The Doctor's private thoughts all over the ship." 

Seven had a thought. "What of when we played his 'daydreams' in the holodeck in order to resolve the problem with the Mokra?" 

"We purged those files." 

"What if we were not thorough?" 

"Seven, you are always thorough but you could check the holodeck logs I suppose," Janeway suggested. 

"I will." Seven stood. 

"Don't you want to finish our game?" 

"May I request a 'raincheck'?" Seven asked. 

Janeway gave a little quirk of her lips that made Seven aware that the other woman was amused. Then Janeway put her hands against the bench pushing to her feet. "Yes, I'll take a raincheck," she said. "You make a very devoted friend, Seven. Good luck in helping ease The Doctor's mind." 

"Thank you, Captain." It pleased her to have pleased the captain in a small way with her choice of action. Seven felt her stomach tremble as Janeway brushed past her and out the holodeck door. 

# # #

Janeway only half-attended her shift on the bridge, her mind continually occupied by Seven's conversation that morning. Her tenacity to help The Doctor made Seven very likely to discover what Kathryn had done.  She recalled the last time she had tried to modify the computer. Seven had discovered it then too. 

There was only one course of action she could see. She must reveal her breach to The Doctor and somehow get him to stop Seven's search. For Seven to find out precisely what had been copied, or why... Kathryn was not prepared to deal with that. Undoubtedly the woman would be angry, and if not, Kathryn would lose what little friendship had been gained. 

_ God, why did I give in to such an obsession? _ Finally the end of shift arrived and Kathryn rose quickly, intending to go to her quarters, retrieve the PADD, then go to sickbay to clear the air with The Doctor. 

"Leaving?" Chakotay asked. He had been silent beside her all shift. 

"Yes, I have a book I was reading." 

"Well, have a good time." 

"Call me if anything comes up." 

"On a nice, quiet day like today?" He shrugged. 

"See you later then," she closed the exchange and quickly exited the bridge. 

# # #

In her quarters, Kathryn located the PADD, kneeling to retrieve it from the floor by her chair. She studied the surface, aware of loss. _Just delete it_ , her conscience prodded. 

Seven's face appeared in her mind, softly glistening with perspiration - something only Janeway could cause when they played so hard at Velocity - Kathryn's finger activated the file. 

The hologram coalesced into shimmering existence on the low sweep couch by her window. The Doctor's programming was exquisitely detailed. From the curve of Seven's brow to the way her various muscles shifted as she breathed, this holo of Seven was every bit as beautiful as the woman Janeway had interacted with that morning. 

_ Did the heart inside beat as vitally in the real Seven as it seemed the light shined from these eyes? _ Kathryn drowned in the blue depths. The longer she watched, the more the urge grew to touch. "She's just a hologram." She stood. "God now I'm talking to it." She paced quickly away and slapped her combadge. "Captain to The Doctor. Report to my quarters." 

"Are we finished?" 

Kathryn spun and nearly fell. "What?" 

The hologram lifted up on an elbow, blue eyes meeting hers. "Are we finished with the session? I should get dressed." 

_ The Doctor had created an interactive hologram? _ Janeway looked at her PADD. There was no way. She was certain she'd gone after only a picture, a still, a snapshot. But no, the hologram's eyes - Seven's eyes - followed her as she moved closer. Maybe it was pre-programmed with a small set of responses. Her PADD could not hold a fully interactive hologram. No wonder he had noticed tampering. Such files were huge and if it was some sort of datastream, it would constantly reference the main file. She had not thought she had been downloading that long. Apparently though, she had. 

Her quarters chime sounded.  _ Oh God. Who is that? _

"You can dress in my room," she ordered as she went to the door. Unable to resist, she watched the smooth, seductive sway of bare hips as 'Seven' entered her room. Just the thought of that display on her bed made her knees buckle. 

Only when the image faded could Kathryn approach her door again. "Come in - " she depressed the door open pad. "Doctor." 

But it was not Voyager's chief medical officer standing and awaiting admission. "Seven?" Kathryn cast a quick glance over her shoulder then took a step back, returning her gaze to the blonde in her sleeveless black Velocity suit, her hair up in a severe French twist. 

"I apologize for not contacting you, but I... wished to continue our match." 

"Now?" 

"You are finished with your shift." 

"I had other plans." 

"Can we talk later?" Seven's manner was off somehow, Kathryn realized. Concern prompted her to ask, "What did you need to discuss?" 

"It can wait," Seven said. 

Janeway agonized, but finally, caught between her conscience and her heart, she chose the safety of her conscience. Having just been imagining ravishing Seven on her bed, it would be safer to not be alone with the young woman right this minute. 

"I will take care of my problem quickly," she finally said. "And call you tonight, all right?" Gently she laid her hand over Seven's wrist. "I promise." 

Seven looked at her arm. "Thank you." Her gaze rose intersecting Janeway's. 

The blue gaze seemed to reach right into Kathryn's chest and squeeze around her heart. "You're welcome." 

Again as Seven walked away from her, Kathryn could only watch in tortured silence as her heart bled. 

"You should have let her stay." 

Janeway spun to a surprise yet again. "Doctor?" She sighed. "What are you doing here?" 

"You summoned me, or can't you remember anything before your tongue hit the floor?" 

"What?!" 

"You're in love with Seven," he stated bluntly. "Which," he muttered, "explains this I found in your bedroom." He stepped away from the wall, reaching back and guiding forward 'Seven' who stepped into view. "It was _you_ in my files. Tired of your own hologram? You go after mine now?" 

Beside him, 'Seven' was attired beautifully in a silver sequined gown. Her hair was down, curling in waves around her throat and cheeks. At her throat glittered a diamond necklace. 

"I programmed her to be my date, not yours," The Doctor charged. 

"I just told her to get dressed." 

"You had Seven of Nine nude on your couch," he countered. 

"So did you," she shot back. "I had called you to tell you. I didn't want Seven to find out. She's so tenacious." 

"Captain, obsessions are not healthy." 

Kathryn sank to the couch. "You're going to counsel me on obsessions?" Bending over her knees she rubbed her temples then sat back and looked up sternly. "I know it's unhealthy. I don't know what came over me. I'm... I apologize for copying your file." 

She wouldn’t look at him for long and The Doctor realized it was because of 'Seven' on The Doctor's arm. “Captain--”

"Would you please leave now? And take her with you." 

The Doctor held out his hand. Kathryn found the PADD again and gave it to him. "Thank you," he said. 

"Don't mention it," she insisted. 

"If you're in love with Seven, Captain -?" 

"I'm not," she lied. "It was a lapse, nothing more." 

"Captain?" The holographic Seven spoke up. 

Automatically Kathryn answered, "Yes, Seven?" 

"Thank you for the use of your room." The Seven hologram leaned forward and bussed her cheek with a kiss. 

Seven then pulled away from The Doctor, leaving him the only witness to the pained tear slipping down Kathryn's cheek. Her jaw worked to bring herself under control. "Captain?" he asked. 

"Seven... the real Seven, said the same thing to me - and that's exactly what I wanted to do," Kathryn said so quietly it was almost inaudible.

The captain's expression kept him silent. Depressing the key on the PADD, The Doctor deactivated the Seven hologram. With a click on his mobile emitter he too vanished. 

But he did not return to sickbay. Whether Janeway had seen it or not, Seven, the real Seven, had been hurt by what she probably perceived as the captain pushing her away. 

Seven was in the Cargo Bay where he found her working at her console. 

"Hello, Seven." 

"Doctor?" He could see his appearance unsettled her. "I don't have the results of my search yet." 

"I didn't come by for that. I decided you were right. I'm being self-conscious, paranoid. It was probably just a glitch." 

"It was not a glitch," Seven interrupted. While he talked she had continued her work. "Someone did take a copy of a file." She tapped another series of keys. "It was the captain." 

"Probably to review something for a ship's log entry," he suggested. 

"She did tamper with your files before," Seven reminded him. 

The Doctor nodded. "To save me from myself. She would never do it again." 

Seven frowned. "So you do not wish me to talk to the captain?" 

"Not about this." 

"Then I must apologize to you." 

"Why?" 

"I spoke to the captain this morning, hoping for her assistance in solving this puzzle." 

"Ah." That explained Janeway's anxiety. 

Seven continued. "She expressed that she would have the same discomfort were her personal logs read." 

"It's a very human thing - a need for privacy, for private thoughts. The choice to share or not." 

"Will you excuse me then?" Seven asked. 

"Why?" 

"I must apologize to the captain." 

"For what?" Seven was already striding away. 

She stopped. "I am guilty of reading her personal logs." 

The Doctor was shocked. "When?" 

"When I first came aboard as a member of the Collective. I was required to obtain knowledge on our new 'ally'." 

"You weren't responsible for that." 

"Then I breached her files again when investigating the space gate." 

"Did you learn anything?" The Doctor was curious. 

"That the captain values her privacy and I must apologize when I have breached protocol." Seven inhaled so faintly that if The Doctor had not been a hologram, observant at the speed of Voyager's computer, he would have missed it. "Do you think she will forgive me?" 

Aware of how Janeway felt at this moment concerning her own breach of protocol, The Doctor tried to put Seven's mind at ease. "She'll forgive you anything." 

When Seven looked up at him, there was uncertainty in her eyes. She really thought her confession would irreparably damage her relationship with Janeway - which meant it was something she desperately did not want to damage. 

He would not have wished the captain for Seven's first intimate partner, but it seemed clear to him now having seen both sides that their hearts had chosen one another. 

"Go on, Seven. I think she'll see you now." 

"Now? How did you know she would not see me before?" 

He shook his head. Seven did not need to know that he had been present at her last conversation. "Just go." She hesitated but finally strode toward the door. "And Seven?" 

She paused and looked over her shoulder. "Yes, Doctor?" 

He swallowed, giving up his own dreams in the sweet face of reality. "Good luck." 

Her brow furrowed a little as she deciphered his intent. Then she squared her shoulders and left the Cargo Bay. 

# # # 

Kathryn emerged from the ice cold hydro shower with her composure mostly restored. But it still felt good to pull her terry cloth bathrobe soft and close against her body.  _ No _ , she thought as she settled to her couch, tucking her knees up and watching the stars.  _ It's not good. I'm comforting myself. But I haven't lost anything. _

Her conscience argued back:  _ Haven't you? You've lost any hope for a relationship with Seven.  _

_ But I couldn't have had it anyway.  _

_ Damn it. Just shut up and let yourself cry.  _

Released by her own 'order', Janeway's tears came. Unstoppable. She did not know when her desire to support Seven had become love. When had she begun craving the lithe blonde physically? She had not defined it until she saw that first nude glimpse on The Doctor's painter's couch. 

Her door chime sounded. Grasping a handkerchief from her reading table - left there from the last silly trollop romance novel she had read – Janeway wiped her face quickly. Too tired by her emotional upheaval to rise, Janeway simply called, "Come." 

The doors parted to reveal Seven standing outside. Too stunned, Kathryn couldn't utter her name, only stumbled to her feet and desperately clutched her bathrobe around her. 

"Captain, may I come in?" 

_ Seven? Here? _ "Why?" Kathryn whispered. 

"I need to talk to you." 

Seven's problem from earlier, Kathryn remembered. But she was in no shape to objectively discuss something with the young woman. "Seven, I'm not feeling well." 

"You have been crying," Seven observed. "You are upset." She entered the quarters anxiously. "You found out. I meant to come tell you." She exhaled. "You are disappointed in me." 

Kathryn drew a deep breath. "No, I'm not disappointed in you." 

"But I went through your personal logs." 

Kathryn worried. "When?" 

"When the Borg first boarded Voyager, I was required to learn more about Captain Kathryn Janeway, as a condition of the alliance." 

_Oh._ "Seven, why tell me this? You have to know I wouldn't find you at fault. Right?" 

"But then, after I had been severed I accessed them again, when investigating the space gate." 

_The time her mind was overwhelmed, seeing conspiracies everywhere_ , Janeway recalled. "Seven, it's all right. I told you to trust me then. You did. It's over." 

"Then you forgive me?" Seven looked so anxious. 

Kathryn reached out with one hand and drew her to the couch.  "There's nothing to forgive." Kathryn inhaled quietly and sat down too. "Actually, I... have to ask your forgiveness." 

"Why?" Seven tucked her hands between her knees still upset at herself. 

"I... lied... to you earlier today. I know that The Doctor was right." 

"You went into his file. Yes, I know." 

"So. You did find out." Kathryn put her hands together in her lap and looked down at the twining fingers in order to continue speaking and avoid seeing the disappointment in Seven's face. "I realized you would. I suppose that's why you wanted to talk to me. I... shouldn't have made a copy of the file. It... it was poor judgment. It was exploitation of you and I... I shouldn't have..." 

"Your actions did not harm me. It was The Doctor's file." 

"Yes, but..." Janeway looked up. "Didn't you see...?" Seven's gaze was placid. "You didn't see the file content?" 

"No. Should I have?" 

Kathryn shook her head. "I... I'll tell you." She exhaled. "I took the copy of The Doctor's daydream of... painting... you." 

Seven was silent. Kathryn squirmed. "Why would you want a copy of The Doctor's painting?" Seven shook her head. "You indicated that it was not very good." 

"I didn't want his painting. I wanted his... subject." Kathryn bit her lower lip and held her breath. 

"Why would you want a copy of me?" Seven frowned. "We can talk any time. You have said this." 

"I... I didn't want to... talk," Kathryn admitted.  _ God, this is hard _ . 

She stood from the couch and turned to find courage in the stars. Somewhere out there was home... and hope.  Seven's gaze burned into her back. Kathryn felt Seven rise and watched as the tall blonde stepped up behind her. Their gazes met in their reflections in the window. 

"You... desire me," Seven finally concluded aloud. Kathryn gripped her upper arms more tightly, holding herself together in front of searching blue. She nodded slowly. 

Kathryn watched Seven's hands come up, mesmerized by both the soft, smooth long fingers of her human hand and the glinting of the mesh covering her Borg hand. Seven gripped her arms, not painfully, but there was a tension communicated through the terry cloth. 

Pained at the impression that Seven was trying to respond to Kathryn's declaration as she thought was required, the captain covered the hands with her own, drawing them off. "No," she murmured. 

"If we are going to copulate, it is necessary," Seven responded. 

"No. We are not going to... copulate." Kathryn used the word with distaste and turned to face Seven. "I... didn't tell you... I did not say those things to draw you into my bed." 

"I don't have a bed, so where would you suggest?" Seven eyed the floor then the couch. 

"Nowhere," Kathryn insisted. "You aren't ready for this and I can't..." 

Seven's mouth covered hers, stunning her to silence. Then, Seven's voice against her head filled the breathless void. "I don't want to talk," she said. She proceeded to prove it, pulling Kathryn's body firmly against her own. Amid more kisses, while Kathryn kept trying to find the will to stop, Seven soothed her hands over the terry cloth until she met Kathryn's hands at the woman's throat. 

"Seven, stop." Kathryn tried to catch her breath. 

"Do you want to?" Seven asked, sounding just as breathless. 

"No. That's why we have to." Kathryn finally turned Seven's hands away, cupping them between her own. "You need to know what desire is. I don't want sex." 

"You want to 'make love'," Seven considered. 

"But you don't understand what love is," Kathryn replied. 

"Love is a wanting, a sharing, both mental and physical, between two people." Seven recited. "It is what Lieutenants Torres and Paris have." 

Kathryn was surprised. "Yes, it is." 

"I have always wanted to share with you," Seven pondered. "Even when I was unsure what I wanted, you are the only one who ever listened." 

"Yes." Kathryn asked, "Where are you going with this?" 

"Perhaps," Seven considered. "I have always been in love with you." Seven paused, gaze riveted to Kathryn's face, which the older woman knew displayed a mixture of shock and pain. "Why are you surprised?" 

"How can you know?" 

"There are many physiological responses to human love. I have however never had a need to quantify them within myself." 

"A need?" 

"You require proof that I desire you, so that we will make love now." 

"Seven, we should wait." 

"I feel a need to touch you -" Seven did, sliding her hands out of Kathryn's grasp and slipping behind those hands to cup Kathryn's cheeks. "And for you to touch me." She grasped one of Kathryn's hands, laying it against her own chest, just at the open point of her collar. It was only a little skin but they both closed their eyes at the sublime contact. 

Beneath her fingertips, Kathryn felt Seven's heartbeat thundering. The skin grew warm from the extra rush of blood through the blonde's body. Seven's nude figure floated into her mind and her fingertips moved up to Seven's thrumming pulse point before Seven guided her fingers to releasing the top of her black suit. 

"Captain, I believe I love you," Seven breathed, even as Kathryn saw she found it hard to breathe. The sight amazed her, and called out to her heart. 

"I love you too, Seven." She stepped forward and brought her body into generous contact with Seven's as she pressed a kiss to the full generous lips. 

Against her mouth Seven asked, "The bed?" 

"The bed," Kathryn confirmed, taking Seven's hand with a sexy smile. 

**THE END**


End file.
